Chris Arnade Takes The Plunge

Do you want to provoke a "deer in the headlights" look from a contemporary human? Here's a sure-fire strategy for getting one.

Simply bring up the question of human morality, perhaps by citing some version of The Golden Rule. Be sure to point out that contemporary humans typically don't have any moral sense whatsoever. If you want to see a deer in the headlights, that should do the trick.

I am writing a long essay on Political Economies in large, complex modern societies. To make a long story short, once the influence of various religions and their moral codes waned in the centuries preceding the era when we got all this economic growth, nothing replaced them. It goes right back to Adam Smith, who rationalized the whole thing when he said that self-interest (subsequently interpreted as unfettered self-interest) would cure our economic ills.

Charity, while a virtuous act, cannot alone provide the essentials for living. Self-interest is the mechanism that can remedy this shortcoming. Said Smith: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest”

That is the single most influential quote of the last three centuries. Consequently, we are living in Hell. Most people don't know they are living in a self-created Hell—it all looks pretty normal to them—but you can take my world for it, we are

So it is always special when a human being figures out that he is living in Hell. This shift in consciousness occurred in former Wall Street trader Chris Arnade, who wrote an essay for The Guardian called Here's Why Wall Street Has A Hard Time Being Ethical.

A new report finds 53% of financial services executives say that adhering to ethical standards inhibits career progression at their firm. A former Wall Street trader describes why.

I will not quote that article at length. There's also a video featuring Chris on the same subject. I recommend you read the article and watch the video.

Chris Arnade took the plunge. The world got better by only an infintesimal amount when he did so, but still the change went in the right direction.

And today I found out that Chris has not only left Wall Street, but he's now talking to and taking photographs of destitute people in the South Bronx. Chris discovered the Sermon on the Mount! He can literally see poor people (they are invisible to most everybody else).

As conversions go, it doesn't get much better than that.

And before I end this short post, I want to tell you something important.

I want to tell you that it is more than a little depressing to me that people who focus on this 21st century crisis or that one hardly ever talk about plain old human decency. They never talk about Fairness, Justice, Benevolence or Charity. People talking about humankind's self-created Big Problems usually focus exclusively on mere human survival—regardless of whether we're living in Hell or not—just like all good little biologically-driven economic entities should do.

I think about all the good things we've lost (if indeed we ever had them). At least there was a time centuries ago when we used to talk about morality. In contemporary times, such talk has been almost completely absent since the bankers blew up the world. Most talk about morality got trampled underfoot after Adam Smith told us it was the self-interest of the butcher and the baker who made our world go round, not the sermonizing clergyman quoting the Gospels. So much Progress! (if you don't look at the poor people).

I've been guilty of this omission myself, so I need to make amends. This post is a small beginning.

Bonus Video (the idiot's guide to Adam Smith)

 

Comments

[rumor]

Dave, I wondered if you'd just stopped posting for a while, which I was a little sad about but, at the same time, happy if you'd found something else to occupy your time that satisfied you in stead - but it turns out my RSS feed simply didn't update for your site for a month.

Long story short, I'm glad to have (a large bunch of!) your thoughts to read again. I always have lots to learn from you. Cheers, sir.